Okay Then, Just One Question
by Galaxina-the-Seedrian
Summary: Isabella kisses Phineas with the knowledge that everyone, herself included, will forget the day's events. Only that's not what ends up happening. At all. (a generic alternate ending of "Across the 2nd Dimension"; Phinabella)


**So, ever heard of Disneycember? By the Nostalgia Critic? Well, he's going to be reviewing "Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2** **nd** **Dimension", and I'm hoping for two reactions: that he's at least pleasantly surprised by it, or he HATES it so much that he has a humorously analytical reaction to it. Like, him saying that it was "meh" would somehow feel so much worse than him saying he hates it to ten thousand degrees.**

 **Besides, it's a HUGE HONOR to be graced with the reviewing master known as the Nostalgia Critic. Seriously. This is the real deal holy field, people.**

 **So yeah, in honor of this, I'm going to be writing a fic that I wanted to write a while ago but never got around to doing it.**

 _Phineas and Ferb are owned by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh_

 **Feel free to show them support by watching "Milo Murphy's Law" if you haven't already, it's a hilarious cartoon and worthy successor to "Phineas and Ferb". Also, be sure to tune in on April to watch the big Milo Murphy's Law and Phineas and Ferb crossover!**

 **Here ya' go!**

 **P/F/P/F**

It was fair to say that Isabella was a girl who took many risks in her life. After all, such a title as being leader of the Fireside Girls came with trials and tribulations that normal people would probably learn to avoid. But Isabella was not like most people. On first glance she would come across as perfectly sane, and compared to Candace no words were truer. Yet facts still remained that deep down the soul of the fuchsia sporting ebony headed little girl was one of the bravest in Danville.

For crying out loud, just a few hours ago before entering this weird organization's home-base she flew a robot unicorn ride into a giant flipping robot of death and continued taking the rest of the robots who flew into her path down with a baseball launcher. She's a whopping nine years old, for heaven's sake!

Yet somehow, someway, revealing her unreciprocated affections to the world's nicest and most creative boy was far too startling of a feat to pull off. It was, in a sense, totally ridiculous. Absolutely ludicrous. That must've been what she was thinking at the time right before their inevitable memory quashing…my, that was a weird way of putting it. Suppose it was a better term than simply saying "hey, they're erasing our memories!"

…though suppose that must be a lot simpler of a phrase as well…

Before her Phineas and Ferb were saying their heartfelt goodbyes to their beloved pet platypus. Well, they weren't saying goodbye really; they'd see him again. They simply wouldn't know of his identity as a secret agent. It was a lot to take in, honestly, Isabella could tell. Especially given that her own sweet, adorable little Chihuahua, Pinky, turned out to be a secret agent as well, and finding that out for herself was far from an easy bite to swallow. Let's just say that her reaction to the prospect wasn't far from the same as Phineas' to Perry's, and that it led to Phineas having to calm her down and explain that, since they didn't really have much time to know their pets as they really were, that she might as well forgive and accept things as was.

There was just enough regret in Phineas' face that made Isabella realize just how right he was, and immediately went to give her pet dog a hug before they had to say their own heartfelt goodbyes.

"Okay, sir. We're ready."

Phineas and Ferb went back to line up with their friends, sister, and mad scientist who was currently strapped and gagged on a human-carrying two-wheeler. As Monogram regarded to Carl, Isabella gave Phineas only a brief glance as her thoughts went into motion. She raised her hand like a respectable school child.

"Uh, Major Monogram?"

"Uh…yes?"

"So none of us will remember _anything_ of today?"

"Um, that's right."

"Good!"

Isabella proceeded to grasp Phineas' shoulder and plant the biggest kiss on his lips that she could muster. It was probably the most romantic thing she was gonna get out of their relationship standing currently, so while she knew she'd forget the kiss, it was still totally worth the warm fuzzy feeling that came with the act. She pulled away, and immediately it followed with a rather pleasantly surprised Phineas, looking at her brightly with a gasp. "Isabella!"

"Hit it Carl!"

"Wait, wait, WAIT!"

And just like that, the entire room flashed a blinding white light all over, followed by a sudden darkness.

 **(~)**

Perry was the first to come to, and with utter confusion looked around the trashed room with shock. He blacked out…how? Why? What went wrong?

Then again thought arose. He immediately went to check on the boys…and to a lesser extent Candace. He genuinely felt bad for thinking that Phineas and Ferb's well-being overshadowed literally everyone else's, yet it couldn't be denied that he was really _their pet_ rather than their sister's. Besides, they did have a moment, and it would just feel so much more painful for him if it ended with his owners suddenly being permanently injured because of this.

Luckily not much seemed to have happened to either of them.

"Perry! Are you okay?!"

Perry sighed in relief, seeing Phineas and Ferb both on the ground, curling out of their ducking position. "What happened?" Phineas asked, looking forward at the machine, "I…I still remember everything…did it not work?"

Phineas turned over to the others, still kneeling, a gloss of worry overshadowing his curiosity. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

"Oy…yeah, I'm fine," Buford groaned, having fallen onto his back from the shock of the flash.

"…I am not," Baljeet sighed, lying underneath Buford, who decided not to move for a few minutes just to annoy the nerd currently residing beneath him, "But that is not exactly an anomaly to behold…" he glared up at Buford, "Excuse me, Buford?"

Buford smirked. "You're excused," he simply said, remaining where he was and earning an aggravated cry of defiance as a result.

Phineas looked around. "Does _everyone_ remember everything?"

Everyone paused before nodding vigorously. Yeah. Their memories were still entirely intact. Phineas blinked. "…so it _didn't_ work…huh…Ferb?"

Ferb blinked as he stood, looking towards Monogram and Carl, who had taken the most impact out of the apparent destruction that had befallen the room. Though the two were still well conscious, Carl comically coughed up a ball of black smoke as he fell over off of his swivel chair, which miraculously seemed to be the only thing that wasn't even remotely damaged. "It appears that the machine has been destroyed," Ferb said unblinkingly.

Isabella raised her head up, snapping out of a daze, shooting to her feet in the utmost horror she could display. "Wait, what?!" she shrieked, "How-wha-wh-…HUH?!"

Candace groaned, dusting her skirt off as she, too, got back to her feet along with the other children and teens (save for Buford and Baljeet) who had gotten on the defensive once the machine had exploded. "Well, _that_ was anti-climactic," she crossed her arms.

Phineas turned to his sister, cocking a floating eyebrow and flashing a small smile. "I wouldn't call an explosion anti-climactic," he admitted, "But something tells me that wasn't supposed to happen…"

Buford huffed. "Still feels like a heapin' waste of time to me."

"Well, no, no, we have to do this for Perry's sake, after all," Phineas smiled.

Baljeet tried his best to squeeze out from under Buford's bottom, but to no avail. He sighed. "I believe what Buford means is that not all of us who participated in the heat of battle-"

"Robot Riot."

"-yes, thank you, Buford. Not everyone who participated in the 'Robot Riot' are present."

Phineas rubbed under his chin. "Hey, that's right," he turned to Monogram and Carl, "Where are the others? Irving? Django?"

Buford blinked. "Who?"

"Django," Phineas frowned at him, "We hung out with him a lot during the beginning of the summer?"

Buford, Baljeet, and even Candace, Stacy, and Jeremy blinked at Phineas dubiously. Phineas stared back. "He took control of our robotic shark during the Robot Riot?"

Once again, Phineas with met with silence. "Remember our circus venture? Or the chariot race? He was there."

Buford hummed a bit, slowly shaking his head in response, the others slowly following suit. Phineas sighed. "Unbelievable," he said, looking a bit ashamed of his friends, "Django goes to school with us, how could you forget his name?"

"To be fair, he doesn't really have much of a personality," Baljeet admitted carefully.

"Hey, Django's cool," Phineas argued, "He's helped us with a lot of stuff over the summer."

"Well, I wouldn't say 'a lot', per se, but he certainly helps more than most of the background characters," Ferb quipped.

Phineas smiled over at Ferb. "Say, you've been saying a lot more than usual today, Ferb," he marveled, earning a shrug from his brother in question.

During the Django-centered tangent that somehow went off into a totally different direction from their current situation, the Fireside Girls seemed to be excitedly giggling at their leader, who currently was still trying to wrap her head around of what had just happened. Gretchen and Ginger threw their arms around Isabella, tightly squeezing her before Adyson practically tackled the three onto the ground, followed suit by the other members. "You did it!" Adyson laughed, "You finally did it!"

Isabella stuttered, unable to really say anything else as her mind seemed to go as blank as paper.

"You kissed your true love!" Gretchen announced.

"On the LIPS!" Katie emphasized, clapping her hands together, "I'm so proud of you!"

"We all are!" Milly grinned.

Ginger managed to pulled herself and Isabella out of the dogpile as she shook her shoulders. "What was it like?" she asked, "Was it all that you dreamed, or did his breath taste like garlic?"

The girls all stared at Ginger with undescribed reactions. Ginger glanced around. "What?" she shrugged, "Who's to say if Phineas doesn't have regular garlic intake?"

"I'm pretty sure that one of us would've known that by now," Gretchen said.

"I heard that he's eaten glazed garlic donuts before," Milly offered before thinking, "Or was that Buford…yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Buford."

As the Fireside Girls bombarded Isabella with more questions, her heart continued to clump with some kind of terrified regret. Why did this feel so wrong? She should be happy, but…no. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, that was just-what was that?! What was she thinking?!

"NO!"

The Fireside Girls were all taken aback, taking a few steps back from their "fearless" leader to give her more space. "Uh…no to what?" Gretchen asked blinkingly, "That's not exactly a viable answer to any of our questions."

Isabella sputtered. Since when did she panic so much about the attention towards her? She loved attention! She craved it! Why'd she suddenly feel like hiding under a rock?

"Isabella, are you okay?" Ginger felt her eyebrows furrow in wonder.

Isabella clutched the roots of her hair, harboring back a scream as she seemed to fully ignore the words thrown at her. "How the heck did that not work?!" she asked, "WHY?!"

Just as the Fireside Girls attempted to calm Isabella down while Phineas and the others were bringing their tangent that led to something about whales and clownfish to a close, the sound of angry muffling cut off everyone's thoughts and small talk. The youth simultaneously turned to the source of the sound, Doofenshmirtz, who had a glare continuously plastered on his face. Everyone awkwardly stared at him as he smothered an angry scream at them. While several glances were made it was Jeremy who eventually decided to carefully remove Doofenshmirtz's mask restraint after sharing a look with Candace in particular. Doofenshmirtz let out a sigh and looked graciously at the blonde teen. "Oh, _thank you_ , that was so uncomfortable," he said, "Hey, you think you can get the rest of this stuff off me, these restraints are chaffing my wrists."

"Uh…I don't think that's quite a good idea," Jeremy said slowly and apologetically, earning a flat stare from the evil scientist, "No offense, but you're kinda not a good person, so…"

"I saved you all from my counterpart, you know!" Doofenshmirtz argued, "I don't understand why I have to be treated like a common criminal after I literally defeated a great evil!"

Another swift awkward silence befell the group. "…aren't you _technically_ a common criminal?" Stacy asked.

Perry placed his hands on his hips and nodded in agreement to this.

Doofenshmirtz glared even harder at the two. "Well I'm certainly not _common_ ," he said, "You don't see many great villains trying to take over the entire Tri-State Area single-handedly, do you?"

Phineas nodded. "Yeah, he _does_ have a point there," he agreed turning to Perry, "So…wouldn't that make him an _uncommon_ criminal? Or is there not a word for that?"

Perry rubbed his bill in thought before shrugging. Phineas in response nearly repeated the action given. "Alright then, uncommon criminal it is," he nodded to Doofenshmirtz with his brother giving a thumbs up of approval; Doofenshmirtz himself seemed pleased with the title as well, if not because he was being given positive attention for once.

Isabella, however, was still losing her cool, nearing hyperventilation. This was not how it was supposed to go at all! She turned to Doofenshmirtz. "That was _your_ machine, wasn't it?" she asked desperately, trying very hard to maintain a polite demeanor but failing miserably.

"Inator," Doofenshmirtz corrected with an eye-roll.

"Yes, yes, whatever," Isabella groaned, "You made it, that's all that matters, do you know why it exploded or not?"

Doofenshmirtz responded to this with an embarrassed look on his face, chuckling nervously. "Yeah, I-I was going to say something," he admitted and paused before throwing his gaze towards Monogram and Carl, "If it wasn't for the muzzle, thank-you very much-."

"Can you BLAME US?!" Monogram finally said, getting back to his senses after the initial surprise of the explosion wore off, "You wouldn't stop rambling about the 'injustice' that came with your restraints, which I might add is rightfully deserved since this all started because of you!"

Doofenshmirtz once again rolled his eyes before continuing. "Well, I was _going_ to warn your intern that he was about to press the self-destruct button on the machine," he said, "Nice going, by the way, Dr. Coconut, _really_. _Now_ do you feel my pain?"

Carl responded with another cough, earning a nod of limited movement from Doofenshmirtz, who seemed well pleased with the response. Monogram threw his arms up in the air. "Oh for crying out loud, Carl, snap out of it!" he grabbed the intern, gave him a couple smacks before looking back to the others and saying, "This, uh…might take a while. Just…continue to converse with one another and don't go anywhere. We'll have this thing working in no time. Right Carl?"

Carl let out a strangled muttering sound. "The salamanders stole my wallet…"

Adyson let out a gasp of surprise. "You see them too?!"

Everyone gave Adyson muddled looks to her rather corybantic reaction. The Fireside Girl glanced around herself to the others. "What?"

Wisely enough, everyone chose not to answer, even as Adyson briefly tried to get it out of them before giving up entirely.

Isabella looked back to Doofenshmirtz, returning to the matter at hand; or rather the matter it was currently anyway. "…self-destruct button?" she breathed, "You put a SELF-DESTRUCT BUTTON on your machine?!"

" _Inator._ "

"WHATEVER! Who on this oblate spheroid even does that?!"

Baljeet gave Isabella a grin. "You were paying attention to my planetary lecture!" he cheered, smirking up at Buford, "And you thought my rambles were nothing but tedious garbage."

Buford glowered. "Tedious is not the word I used," he said, "Garbage, definitely. Don't mock me with your fancy words, Baljeet."

Isabella wanted to rip the bow off her head, throw it to the ground and smash it to relieve the stress building up inside her. "I'm gonna have to ask you two to please be quiet," she begged them, "PLEASE?"

Doofenshmirtz would've shrugged if he could. "I do it with all my inators," he explained, "They wouldn't be inators, really, if they didn't have self-destruct buttons."

Phineas and Ferb glanced to each other, almost cringingly. If they somehow managed to get out of there with at least some of their memories intact, they silently vowed that they would get that "self-destruct" tick sorted out. Isabella's gaze was continuously miffed.

"That is just…" Isabella rubbed her temples, "Well that's just great! FANTASTIC! _INGENIOUS!_ "

"Why, thank you," Doofenshmirtz smiled before thinking a bit under a short lull, "Wait…was that sarcasm? That sounded like angry sarcasm to me."

"Noooooooo, whatever gave you _that_ idea?"

"…that definitely sounded sarcastic."

Isabella's heavy sighs seemed to get more defined the more Doofenshmirtz's clear incompetence showed through to her. The fact that he inadvertently was the reason why the machine-er…inator inexorably detonated didn't exactly help to calm herself down. She took a long, deep breath, perhaps a couple too many as some of her friends, Phineas included, all looked at her with worried glances; the kind that either indicated that she no longer looked as healthy or as sane as she had been beforehand.

Phineas couldn't help but wonder, why was she freaking out so much…oh…oh that's right, she kissed him just a couple minutes ago, didn't she?

…she kissed him…

Isabella kissed him.

 _Isabella_ kissed him on the _lips_.

Slowly the gears began rolling in his head again, and Phineas' mind came to a sudden realization that, yeah, that was a pretty big deal. It also occurred to him that Isabella's hope was that he'd simply forget about the moment due to the effects of the Amnesiainator. But the only thing that didn't make sense to him in that moment was…why exactly did she want him to forget? Did she fear rejection? Was…was this a confession?

Wait, wait, nonsense, what kind of confession led to an immediate mind-eradication? That seemed a bit absurd…but what else could it be? What else would've compelled Isabella to DO that? Was this always apparent, or was it a spur of the moment like in one of those cheesy sitcoms his sister and Stacy loved to make fun of to build up on the sudden drama? This just didn't seem to make any sense at all!

Should…should he ask her about it? He should probably ask her about it.

…right now?

YES! Of course! He totally should ask right now, now seems like the perfect time for an inopportune explanation.

"Uh…Isabella-?"

"I AM PERFECTLY CALM, DANG IT!"

…okay maybe now wasn't the best time.

Yet Isabella immediately clasped her mouth shut with her hands, surprised with herself. She regretted suddenly taking her frustration out on Phineas, and by extension everyone else, by yelling at him for no reason whatsoever, especially when Phineas reacted by backing away a tad from her upon her outburst. The embarrassment was one thing, now the guilt was another; why, why, why did she kiss him, what was she thinking?!

"…are you okay?"

Isabella's face suddenly turned a bright shade of red as Phineas looked rather disquieted at her. Of course he'd be worried about her, he's Phineas, he always cared for his friends. Her words faltered to the point of being incomprehensible as she tried to find a way of explaining herself while her friends seemed to be watching them both expectantly. Doofenshmirtz on the other hand just seemed slightly confused until it dawned on him and he found himself smiling rather smugly at them. This seemed more interesting than complaining about whatever Monogram and Carl were doing.

Anyone shallow enough would've just lied to him, and since it was likely that Phineas was too nice to really hold something like that against her the option seemed simple enough had she been that shallow. Somehow the fact she even saw it as an option in general made her feel like the scum of the earth. Lying to someone like Phineas just felt wrong. There was also a chance that doing such a thing would mar Phineas' trust in her, something that if anything learned from this entire adventure was something he took very seriously. Isabella groaned into her hands and shook her head while Ferb went over to pat the poor flushing girl on the back.

"Isabella?" Phineas asked again, "Um…this is probably awkward to talk about now, but it's gonna bother me for eternity if you don't answer," he looked back to the broken machine and the two trying to repair it, "I mean, granted, we probably won't remember in a minute or so but…" he looked back to Isabella looking a bit serious, "I kinda don't want to end the day with just that, if…that makes sense…"

Isabella mutely nodded her head, completely at a loss as she shyly looked back up to Phineas, who seemed to be looking for the correct approach to this as well. "So…uh," Phineas rubbed the back of his neck and managed to find resolve in his voice, "Does this mean…I mean, that is to say…do you _like_ me, or…?"

The pause was long and uncomfortable, but at the very least Isabella no longer looked terrified. But it wasn't too far from a look that no longer feared death either, so it felt rather mixed. Then again it was just a deadpanned expression. It didn't make the silence any more baring.

"…depends on what you mean by," Isabella gulped, "'Like'?"

"What I mean is…um…jeez, this is…"

"JUST CONFESS YOUR LOVE ALREADY, DANG IT…sorry, I went street there, didn't I?"

Phineas and Isabella turned to Milly whilst the other Fireside Girls excitedly hushed her, containing their giggling. It was then that they finally noticed the rather complacent look on everyone's faces. Isabella scowled. "Do you people mind?" she asked, "We're kinda trying to deal with something?"

"Oh, not at all," Candace grinned, motioning them on, "You just keep doing what you're doing. Pretend we're not even here."

Phineas gave Ferb an uncharacteristic yet calm look of vexation. " _E tu, Ferb?_ "

The green mopped boy simply gave an all too innocent shrug in response.

Isabella simply let yet another heaping sigh, the humiliation made perfectly pristine. "I've had just about enough of this," she said, " _Aye-yai-yai_ …I didn't think this through at all…"

Phineas looked back at Isabella. "It's okay," he said a bit quietly.

Isabella gave Phineas a small pout. "How?" she demanded, "How is this okay? How can you be so _calm?_ "

"Well…I mean…I did _just_ learn my pet was a secret agent, and helped defeat an evil dictator from taking over my hometown. And that's on top of all the dimension hopping we did. I'm pretty sure this is pickings compared to everything else."

"I just…I kinda threw that at you out of nowhere, that's not how I…how I wanted it to go, honestly."

"…so…does that mean…you _do_ like me then?"

"…huh?"

"You acted like you were planning this for a while…so…wouldn't that mean…?"

Isabella went rigid. "Uh…well…ahem…is it getting hot in here?" she chuckled nervously, "I…the thing is…I do like…I mean I don't…I do…I…ugh…"

Isabella felt blessed that Phineas was so patient with her. This was just so much harder than she thought it would be. She wondered if she chose to wait a while longer than this to do it, she'd be able to form her words more coherently. Then she thought, who was she kidding? There's absolutely no way for her to simplify this, no matter how many years it took for her to script out her emotions.

"Yes, I…I do like you," Isabella said finally, "I mean…I like you a lot, Phineas. I have for a long time…"

"…oh…"

Phineas felt like face-palming really hard at that moment, but his brother and some of the others behind him already did the motions for him. What kind of response was that? His best friend and neighbor-from-across-the-street whom he's known for most of his life just told him that she had a crush on him and that's all he could conjure in thought? How long was a 'long time' even? Since they met? How did he not notice before?

Especially since, in retrospect, she was being quite overt with her feelings.

"…I'm sorry, Phineas."

"You don't need to apologize."

"Yeah, I do. I kissed you out of the blue expecting us to forget the whole thing without thinking about the alternatives. I-I didn't even think about how you would feel if…"

Isabella deflated slightly as she looked away, rubbing her arm. Phineas managed a smile. "I didn't mind it at all," he conceded.

"…you didn't?" Isabella felt her heart rise along with her straightened posture.

Phineas shook his head before starting to look a bit bashful. "Actually…I-I kinda liked it."

"…did you?"

"Yeah."

"Really! Huh…well…that's…that's nice, then."

"Really nice."

"Yeah, it…worked out better than I thought in that regard."

Phineas nodded. By now both of them were blushing like mad. Isabella looked back to Phineas carefully. "Um…do… _you_ like me then?"

"…Well…I mean…gosh, Isabella, I-I've always felt…"

Isabella watched on, folding her hands together as Phineas struggled with his own graceless profession. It was more than a certain step-brother could bare, and with an eye roll Ferb cut his brother off. "Well, don't just stand there. _Kiss her._ "

Phineas felt his body tense up. _Wait…you mean…like, right now?_

He looked at Isabella, who seemed mixed with a look of childlike want and uncertainty. "Phineas…?"

Phineas blinked, gave himself a shrug, and decided to pull Isabella into another impromptu kiss, which lasted a few seconds longer than the one Isabella gave him. A wave of emotions filled Isabella in that moment, her heart racing with joy as all her regrets vanished from her mind. All the best feelings she could find were in their place, and she practically melted into the boy's arms, nearly falling unconscious from her own bliss. Phineas barely caught her falling forward, and wondered momentarily is she was okay before she embraced him in a warm hug.

Everyone awed at the new young couple, the Candace, Stacy, and Fireside Girls giggling, Buford and Ferb grinning, and Jeremy and Perry giving knowing smiles. It was Doofenshmirtz's turn to let out a sigh, shaking his head. "Well…there goes my heart," he said out loud, probably without really meaning to.

Baljeet, the only one who wasn't able to witness the kiss, continued to struggle and thrash. "Buford! Seriously, get off, I want to see!"

"…wow," Phineas smile brightened, "That was…nice."

Isabella giggled as she pulled away. "Yes, yes it was."

From behind the now crudely fixed Amnesiainator, Monogram stood back up, wiping his brow before looking to the others. "Alright, it's fixed!"

The Amnesiainator let out an electrical pop and stutter as if it were an old engine ready to blow up once again. Monogram and Carl, who slowly stood up next to his superior, stared at the creation. "…I think," Monogram finished with uncertainty.

Carl rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe we should test it on Doofenshmirtz first, just in case…"

Doofenshmirtz looked absolutely ticked off. "Oh, sure, let's all throw the evil scientist under the bus! You know – you know, I still reserve the right to point out that I'm the one who saved you guys from other Me? Yeah. Ingrates, let me tell ya…"

Monogram fumed. "It. Was. YOUR FAULT! Literally, this all could've been avoided if it weren't for you getting involved with interdimensional exploits!"

Doofenshmirtz grunted as Monogram tried to regain his aplomb. Phineas and Isabella on the other hand looked back at each other, their utterance now rather despondent. "…well," Isabella sighed, "That's unfortunate timing."

"Yeah," Phineas looked to his feet.

"This…this is gonna sound, um…I feel so selfish right now," Isabella said, "I kinda don't want our memories to be erased, now that I know how you feel."

"Me neither," Phineas said, once again going a bit soft but not quite enough to be unheard by anyone, "But…what choice do we have? We can't lose Perry…or…or Pinky either."

Isabella nodded. "Yeah…yeah, you're right," she said, "I just wish there was another way…"

The silence that plagued the room several times suddenly felt rather welcomed at this point as everyone went back to their positions. It was as if it had stopped time somehow, and that maybe it could savor the moment Phineas and Isabella had just a while longer before they returned back to their old lives without recalling a thing. Perry looked rather guiltily at this, almost wanting to say something if he could.

"…okay, can I ask something?" Gretchen suddenly said, "Why do we need to get our memories erased again?"

Monogram sighed, rubbing his temples. He obviously had a rough day, and Doofenshmirtz was riding his patience to the ground. "We can't risk any of you getting involved with OWCA," he explained, "The consequences would be devastating. Our organization deals with many great evils and-."

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there," Candace inserted herself; "You _do_ realize that we kinda all banded together and saved your agents from certain doom?"

"Hey, that's right," Buford frowned, "You guys wouldn't have been able to save Danville if it wasn't for us."

"When you put it like that, it sounds like we're getting the shorter end of the stick here," Stacy said plainly, "I mean, no offense, but what could be more dangerous than a robot army?"

The more that the children suddenly began to question the action in its entirety, the more Monogram longed for some painkillers. "It's more than just that," he said, "Not only would it be dangerous for your well-being, but we can't exactly trust you to keep our organization secret either, now can we? As children and adolescents you could potentially let out drastic information-."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second," Doofenshmirtz said, Monogram groaning loudly, "You wanted to keep this place a _secret?_ Explain to me why there's a sign right out in front of the building that literally says OWCA secret organization, please don't look at this sign, then. Yeah, like _anyone_ is gonna listen to _that_."

"Considering they'd have to read it before…" Phineas paused, realizing the incompetence of it all but still being too nice to really say anything too horrible about it, "Besides, I'm pretty sure one of us has had to come by here, at least by mistake or something."

"Now that I think about it," Jeremy hummed in thought, "I came here to teach you guitar lessons once, didn't I? You openly talked to me about being the leader of an all animal organization…?"

Monogram looked at the others with an unreadable look while he was being stared at. "…uh…I can explain."

"Sir!" Carl gasped in horror, "How could you?!"

"I was trying to make conversation!" Monogram said exasperatedly, "What's wrong with that?"

"Please tell me you didn't tell him anything _vital_ , sir!"

"Do you take me for a fool, Carl? Of course I didn't," Monogram looked back to Jeremy, "Uh…did I?"

The blonde teen shrugged, unsure of what else to tell him while Carl face-palmed. Candace looked rather unimpressed. "So let me get this straight," she surmised, "You're telling me that even though we outdid your entire animal agency thing or whatever and literally saved the day, we still have to get our memories erased because we could be put into potentially more dangerous situations that we're clearly more capable of handling?"

"…it's for the greater good," Monogram finally said before the group went into an uproar; even Perry, who realized he hadn't really thought about it before, looked upset at this utter nonsense.

"I do not think you are being entirely honest," Baljeet said, "It seems that Buford might be right about this…for once," Buford grunted, "Erasing our memories due to that logic sounds pointless."

"Are you sure there isn't any other reason why you want out memories wiped?" Isabella asked, crossing her arms.

Monogram folded his hands to his face and breathed in an attempt to remain in control. "Sigh…there is another reason," he admitted slowly, "It's…well…a bit more complicated. Not many people know it, but there are ordinances for this kind of thing. Any and all animal agents whose identities are purposefully revealed are in likely going to face inquiry."

"Inquiry," Phineas looked at Perry in shock, "You mean…Perry, did you literally break the law in order to save us?"

Perry didn't know how he should react: utterly ashamed of himself for having more baggage revealed to his owners, or surprised that Phineas was aware of felt himself go a twinge of red as he let out a chatter that could only be described as an animal-like chuckle, which deepened as Doofenshmirtz suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh my goodness, this is priceless!" he guffawed, "Perry the Platypus, _the_ Perry the Platypus, breaking protocol?! That's just deliciously ironic! If I could remember this moment alone, I would die a happy mad man…"

"Wow…now I feel like a bigger jerk for being mad at you for not saying anything," Phineas looked very apologetic towards Perry at this point, "And that's beside the fact that you can't even talk…" briefly the boy raised a floating eyebrow quizzically, "Right?"

Perry opened his bill and closed it. Nope. The boy wasn't ready.

"What does this ordinance even pertain to?" Isabella asked, "And isn't it a little silly to put animals up on trial?"

"In normal circumstances, yes," Carl nodded, "But considering how anthropomorphic our agents are…"

Isabella hummed to herself momentarily in thought. "I suppose you have a point," she said, "But it's still unfair given the circumstances."

Monogram sighed. "Laws aren't always fair essentially," he said, "They're around to keep order, not to make people happy. I don't want to have to erase your memories personally – you're all good kids – but I can't just go bending the rules just because you all managed to fix this whole dimensional debacle, as much as I'd like to."

"I hate to say it," Baljeet sighed, "But he has me there. If it is against the law…" he paused, "Wait a minute…you said that this Amnesiainator was originally built by Dr. Doofenshmirtz?"

"Uh, that's right," Monogram nodded, "We have all of his evil creations here."

Baljeet nodded. "Exactly," he said, "Evil, as in _illegal_ , right?"

Monogram stopped instantly at this while Carl thought a bit to himself. "…actually," Carl smiled, "Yes. This is pretty much what Doofenshmirtz was doing, right? Wouldn't we be basically breaking the law by doing this?"

"Well-I-um…" Monogram rubbed his chin momentarily, "That's…a good point…" he looked up at Doofenshmirtz curiously, "Why…did you build that inator anyway?"

"Hm…that's a good question," Doofenshmirtz hummed, "I can't seem to remember…"

"…you used it on yourself, didn't you?"

"What?! NO! Why would I do something so stupid? I think I'd remember doing something that embarrassing."

Monogram face-palmed pretty hard while Doofenshmirtz continued to glare in defiance. He looked back to the children, almost in desperation. "We can't exactly prove that this would be illegal," he said, "It's not like we can find the means to figure this out right-."

"Here," Carl said, holding up a large book and opening it to a page, "Page 792 and article C, Paragraph 27, clause 4. It is _strictly very much_ illegal to erase the memories of a person and/or conscious being unless they are pertaining to the knowledge of aliens or planetary phenomenon."

Phineas tried to speak until Ferb proceeded to cover his mouth and shook his head. Monogram let out a small "huh" of surprise, looking over it himself. He looked back to everyone else with a frown. "But that doesn't exactly mean that Agent P is liable in your custody," he said, "He'd still have to be sent to another family, as well as any other agents whose host families discovered them during this whole ordeal," he looked rather guilty at this, "That actually makes matters a little harder…huh…"

Just when it looked like everyone was about to simply accept their fate, Carl once again interjected. "But sir," he said, "Remember the last time we assigned Agent P to another host family? How it ended in total disaster?"

Monogram and Carl both paused as they looked at each other before looking off into the distance, their bodies rippling like water. Everyone stared at this in utter confusion. "Uh…why are they doing that?" Candace asked, " _How_ are they doing that?"

"I think they might be having a flashback," Stacy commented, "I've seen my parents do it before."

"Again, _how?_ " Candace furrowed her eyebrows at Stacy.

"They do know we can't see whatever it is they're seeing, right?" Jeremy asked.

Phineas and Ferb both looked over at Perry, who was also rippling and staring off into nothing. They glanced at each other and wondered if they were referring to the time where Perry had gone missing for the entire day (which, if he _had_ been temporarily reassigned to another family that particular day, suddenly his prolonged disappearance made sense), or some other time they weren't aware of. Once the rippling had stopped, Monogram, Carl, and Perry all simultaneously shuddered. "You make a good point," Monogram said, "Hm…I suppose that means there's nothing we can do?"

"Not a thing, sir," Carl confirmed, "Unless we want another visit with the Ordinance Society."

Monogram cringed. "Ugh," he rubbed his temples, "Fine…"

Phineas felt his slouch straighten up. "Does…does that mean Perry can stay?" he asked.

Perry felt his eyes widen. Was it really going to be that simple?

"And Pinky," Isabella raised her hand once more like before as she piped in, "Don't forget Pinky!"

Monogram seemed to struggle with his own thoughts before he sighed; he had a bad feeling about this, but it all seemed to sort itself out. Still, part of him wondered if there was anything about this that could eventually go wrong in the future. There were villains far worse than Doofenshmirtz after all. Granted, the Doofenshmirtz from the 2nd Dimension was pretty evil, and threatening to boot. He hadn't recalled anyone who made it that far regarding the villains of the Tri-State Area aside from the Regurgitator, and he was locked away safely in their prison.

Then there was Agent P himself. Enlightened with this newfound evidence, Perry seemed to looked at Major Monogram with a pleading stare. Previously Perry wouldn't have minded having his owners forget about this day, but having a chance for them to keep their memories was obviously the more personable achievement. And no human being could dare say no to an adorable animal pouting, as much as it struck Perry in his pride.

"I…suppose," Monogram said carefully, "Well…ah to heck with it. In that case I don't see why you can't keep your memories _and_ your pets…"

Perry lit up like a Christmas tree before he went over and hugged both of his owners, while everyone else looked rather pleased by the situation. Isabella went over and hugged Phineas from behind, really ecstatic for both him and herself in extension. The moment, however, was once again cut off by the Major as he seriously added, "But that doesn't mean you're off the hook, Agent P. What you did was quite a serious offense."

Carl looked over at Monogram and cleared his throat. "You're not one to talk, sir," he reminded as he motioned to Jeremy, "Considering what you told-."

"I get it Carl," Monogram sighed, the headache returning, "You don't have to be such a know-it-all."

Doofenshmirtz once again giggled at his nemesis, who glared back at him. "Someone's in _trouble_ ," he laughed, "And it's not me this time! Hee-hee~!"

"You still need to pay the consequences for _starting_ this mess in the first place," Monogram stated, gazing at Doofenshmirtz savagely, "Don't think for a second that you're getting out of this unscathed."

Doofenshmirtz gave a moue of annoyance. "Oh, come on! You guys can't give me _anything_ , can you?!"

 **(~)**

A couple hours of some rather boring paperwork signing regarding the group legally binding themselves to an oath concerning that none of them ever reveal what they had learned of OWCA or face unimaginable ramifications for such actions, followed by Doofenshmirtz somehow escaping his restraints, bidding his "friends" farewell (though Phineas and Ferb really did consider Doofenshmirtz their friend, so this wasn't untrue, much to his delight), and escaping OWCA to continue his evil schemes, the group found themselves leaving Danville and allowing the members of the OWCA to clean up the mess left behind by the Robot Riot. Luckily there wasn't much left to clean up thanks to the self-destruct button that pretty much destroyed everything in a nice and cleanly manner. As for the townspeople who had witnessed the chaos firsthand, they decided to play ignorant and pretend that the day never occurred, completely content with their denial as opposed to allowing any trauma to encase them.

"Well, that was fun," Phineas smiled over at the others, "Unexpected…unplanned…but fun."

"You call nearly being destroyed by a crazy dictator's robot army fun?" Candace eye-rolled, "You're such a weirdo…whatever. I, personally, can't wait for tomorrow. Another day, another chance to bust you guys."

Stacy and Jeremy gave each other knowing smirks, the former silently glad that her friend was back to her old self again. Phineas obliviously shrugged at Candace's answer, content to see his sister so happily determined in whatever goal she had. He looked down at Perry, who walked on all fours beside them, back in his pet-mode as he walked out in public. "It's too bad that you still have to deal with that lawsuit," he said.

Perry's chatter sounded like an "eh" to the rest of the group. He did what he had to do. There was no guilt to be had. Besides, he was sure they'd go easy on him considering the circumstances anyway. It wasn't like he was being careless.

Phineas smiled and scratched Perry on the head, Ferb following suit soon after. Suddenly, Phineas felt a hand grasp his, face turning a light shade of red as he turned to a rather pleased and dare he say even relieved Isabella. Pinky, in his respective pet mode, waddled over to Perry, tail wagging as fractiously as the rest of his jittery body. Phineas couldn't help but wonder if Pinky now had to suffer the same fate as Perry, or if he was off the hook considering that his cover was blown due to Perry's actions and not his own. Isabella giggled. "So~…" she said, "Whatcha guys' dooin' tomorrow?"

Phineas let out a blissful sigh as he looked up to the gloaming sky above them. "I dunno," he said, giving Isabella's hand a gentle squeeze, "But I can't wait to see what happens next."

 **A/N:**

 **So, let's be honest here: you guys only butted in because you wanted your OTP to live, huh?**

 **Ferb:** _Yup._

 **Candace:** _Absolutely._

 **Fireside Girls:** _No shame!_

 **Doofenshmirtz:** _Come on, can you blame 'em? They were so adorable…_

 **That's…that's kinda creepy coming from you, Heinz.**

 **Doofenshmirtz:** _I'm an evil scientist_ _ **and**_ _a father. I think I can get away with finding some appeal to this. Speaking of which, I can't wait to tell Vanessa about today! Perry the Platypus_ _ **breaking the law!**_ _[laughs loudly and uncontrollably] I will_ _ **never**_ _let him live that down._

 **Um…whatever you say man. Whatever you say...**

 **Well, this was a lot of fun to write, even though I'm pretty sure that I made some of the characters OOC in some way (except Doof; this is the most accurate Doof I've written). Took me several days, and it was worth it. I haven't had this drive in my writer's soul since "Roses Are Red". And like said one-shot, this isn't meant to be taken seriously in any way, shape, or form. I liked the original ending of the movie as it was; I'm just a very difficult person, who wanted to see more Phinabella from it, you know? And I personally wouldn't have minded it if they knew Perry's identity from then on, and sometimes would cross paths again…but I understand that not everyone would've been able to watch the movie and stuff…except…we have the internet so there's no excuse…why the heck didn't they let them keep their memories? Whenever I think about it, I keep forgetting.**

 **Now I hope you're all having a Merry Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza or whatever you guys celebrate on the holidays! Personally, Christmas is rad for me and my entire family.** **Hope you're all having a wondrous day/night, and have a pleasant New Years!**

 **-GTS**


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